Wednesday, August 31, 2011

my highlights of vegas

My trip last week to Vegas wasn't all about work.  Instead of going to Vegas alone I was lucky to convince my husband to come along.
Me convincing him: "Hey babe, you want to go to Vegas with me? I will be at the trade shows during the day but I heard the pools here have these things called 'bikini parties'? 
{hahaha. FYI this is NOT what he experienced at all}

So here are a few highlights of our Vegas trip
...
{I like to call these the *click, click, click* guys}
These guys are as common as slots in Vegas (I said SLOTS ;)).  Since prostitution is some-what legal in Nevada, these guys are paid to hand out cards with pictures of girls on them and a phone number.  The clicking noise comes from the guys running the cards through their fingers to get your attention - click,click,click,click,click
They will deliver a girl to your hotel room in 20 minutes. 
I ordered pizza and it took 30.

{Cirque Du Soleil "O" at the Bellagio}
This water-themed show was beyond words, everything from the elaborate costumes, to the amazing stage with 1.5 million gallon pool, to the performers with no spines (literally!).  It was unbelievable and I am proud to say Cirque is Canadian!  


{watching the sunset in Grand Canyon}
This was hands down my favourite part of the trip.  The Grand Canyon was so.... GRAND! Being there, sitting at the edge of this tremendous World Wonder with my hub, I was in such awe of how breathtaking it was.  


Friday, August 26, 2011

viva las vegas...


This week I attended a fashion trade show in the scorching (I mean like 42 degrees) city of Vegas! For those of you that have never been to a trade show before, it's basically a place where companies in a specific industry come and show off their latest products/services. I have been to different trade shows in L.A & New York but this one was by far the most massive one I have ever experienced! It probably felt even bigger to me because I was solo; most companies here had a team of at least 5 buyers and were working with some big department stores (i.e. Bloomingdales... you may have heard of them? ;))

{My badge I had to wear at the trade show}  
Vendors rarely look at your face when you walk into their booth, they just look at your badge to see what company you are from.  Having "Start Up Retailer" on there tells them that #1) you're a newbie and #2) that you probably wont be their biggest sale ;)   One vendor told me that they actually don't work with "small companies like mine" and I should "probably go visit another vendor". 

Do you remember the scene from Pretty Woman where she gets kicked out of the store. Well, it was sort of like that (minus the belly baring blue and white hooker number)!  Although my first reaction was to take it a little personal, I remembered that this is the reality of this business... When stuff like that happens you just have to shrug it off because everyone at one point or another has to start somewhere.

{Just a peek at some of the pieces I picked up...}

All in all, I met some great vendors and picked out some beautiful new pieces for Fall!

Friday, August 19, 2011

"ooh na, na, what's my name?"

The word is a combination of two words put together.
"lang" in Cantonese translates to pretty (靓)
"sura" in Croatian translates to girl (actually spelled cura but for pronunciation purposes we'll just spell it with an "s")

.....................

perfect for an online women's boutique


Being that I am Chinese and my husband is Croatian, I played around with trying to come up with a name that combined the two languages.  While the languages are very different (in every way!), there were two words that seemed to fit perfectly together.
There you go... a little piece of me :)



Thursday, August 18, 2011

fingers crossed


Most New Year’s resolutions happen in January; mine happened in March. It was then that I decided I would take on this great opportunity to start a new and completely foreign chapter in my life.
In order to start a new chapter, an old one must come to an end. One of the hardest and scariest things a person can do is leave something behind that is comfortable and familiar; especially when it pays the bills – but, I had to do it. So, I left my full-time job as a Marketing Co-ordinator and decided to follow my heart and listen to my creative desires in order start my future in fashion.

I have been warned by countless people that starting up a business is a long and tedious road, but I’ve always been up for a challenge! This blog will be a way to document the entire process, and one day look back and remember the ride. Most importantly, I wanted to show others with similar dreams that it CAN be done. Through my ideas, I hope to not only find inspiration but inspire you as well. 

This blog will focus on the creation of my Dream, and I will be sharing with you the people, places and things that I love so that you too can see and understand my vision. 

And like my good friend Oprah says 
"You've got to follow your passion.  You've got to figure out what it is you love--who you really are.  And have the courage to do that.  I believe that the only courage anybody ever needs is the courage to follow your own dream."

(let's be real here, if Oprah was my good friend..I probably would not need to start this...)

So here it goes, welcome to my Dream...
All I can do now is cross my fingers & toes that it all works out ;)